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Sensex, Nifty End 1.3% Higher As Markets Jump After Three Days Of Losses: 10 Points
24 Apr 2019, 03:47 PM IST 
The Nifty Energy index rose 1.84%, led by Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and GAIL
- Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, HDFC and Infosys - finishing between 1.51 per cent and 2.21 per cent higher - were the top contributors to the advances on Sensex.
- The National Stock Exchange (NSE)'s Nifty Bank index - comprising banking stocks - finished the session with a gain of 1.29 per cent. State Bank of India, Yes Bank and IndusInd Bank - closing 1.80 per cent, 2.51 per cent and 3.19 per cent higher respectively - led the upmove in the sector.
- Analysts, however, expect volatility to continue in the domestic equity markets going forward.
- "With 50 per cent of polling now behind, market participants are possibly taking a speculative bet on the outcome of the elections," AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital, told NDTV.
- Oil & gas shares such as Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and ONGC jumped as crude oil prices eased from 2019 highs. The Nifty Energy index ended 1.84 per cent higher, led by state-run Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and GAIL.
- Brent crude futures - the international benchmark for crude oil - were at $74.21 per barrel at 12:05 pm, down 30 cents from their last close. Brent crude has risen 12.8 per cent since March. Crude futures had risen to 2019 highs earlier this week after the US said it would end all exemptions for sanctions against Iran.
- Analysts will closely watch more corporate earnings for the quarter ended March 31. "Market participants are now cautious due to election uncertainty and oil prices… Earlier, they were pricing in a BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) victory, but the voting turnout looks to be lesser than expected," news agency quoted Saurabh Jain, AVP research, SMC Global Securities, as saying in a report.
- As of Tuesday, about 66 per cent of those eligible had voted by the end of the day, in the third and largest phase of a staggered general election that will go on till May 19, according to news agency Reuters.
- “Secondly, FII (foreign institutional investors) inflows have also dipped this month compared to last month," Mr Jain added.
- Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold equities worth Rs 237.47 crore while net purchases by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) stood at Rs 198.35 crore on Tuesday, according to provisional data from the NSE.
(With agency inputs)